Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women championships


The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women’s athletics and to administer national championships. During its existence, the AIAW and its predecessor, the Division for Girls' and Women's Sports, recognized via these championships the teams and individuals who excelled at the highest level of women's collegiate competition.
After the 1981–82 academic year, the AIAW discontinued sponsorship of national championships and later was legally dissolved. At this time, the NCAA assumed sole sanctioning authority of its member schools' women's sports programs.

Governing bodies of women's collegiate athletics through 1982

The Division of Girls and Women's Sports, a division of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Recreation, was the first nationally recognized collegiate organization for women’s athletics and the forerunner of the AIAW. The Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women operated under the auspices of the DGWS. The CIAW governed from 1966 until February, 1972, and conducted championships in eight sports.
During the 1972–73 season, the first full academic year of its operation, the AIAW offered its first eight national championships in the same eight sports.
In years when small-college championships were not contested, and in sports without divisions, there was open competition among eligible teams.
Except as noted below, the NCAA sponsored its first women's championship in each sport in the 1981–82 academic year. Individual athletic programs and, in some cases, individual teams within a program were permitted to choose to participate in either the AIAW or NCAA competitions. The NCAA has never sponsored championship competition in badminton, synchronized swimming, or slow-pitch softball.
In the sports of fencing, lacrosse, rowing and tennis, for completeness, the champions listed below include those bestowed by each sport's governing body prior to the beginning of AIAW championships in those sports.
Compilations of collegiate records by the NCAA, continuing into 2006, have ignored or segregated the contributions of AIAW athletes. Major college basketball's career women's scoring leader, Lynette Woodard of the University of Kansas, speaking on the exclusion of AIAW statistics, said, "Basketball doesn't just start with when the NCAA blessed it. And it's not about Jackie and it's not about Lynette. It's about history. History is history."

Sports with AIAW/DGWS team championships by year

[Badminton]

AIAW championship 1973–82. Previously administered by the Division of Girls' and Women's Sports.
After the last AIAW competition, collegiate badminton assumed the authority of its own national tournament committee in conjunction with the United States Badminton Association. The USBA continued the sponsorship of national collegiate championships from 1983. Wisconsin won in 1983. Arizona State won all ten titles from 1984 through 1993, when ASU dropped badminton.

[Basketball]

Pre-NCAA statistics, based on AIAW Archives, Special Collections, University of Maryland Libraries.

Division I (no division 1968–1974, Large College 1974–1979)

AIAW championship 1972–82. Previously administered by the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

Division I (no division 1975–1979)

AIAW championship 1980–82. Previously administered by the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association. The IWFA became the National IWFA in 1964 and called for a National Championship.
AIAW, 1980–1982:
The NIWFA has continued to sponsor national collegiate championships from 1983 through the present. From 1990 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a combined men's and women's team championship.

[Field Hockey]

Division I (no division 1975–1979)

Co-sponsored 1975–78 by the United States Field Hockey Association.

Division I (no division 1970–1980)

Team

from Ohio State University initiated the women's intercollegiate golf championship in 1941. After World War II, the DGWS crowned an individual collegiate golf national champion from 1946 through 1971, when it became an AIAW event.
YearWinnerSchoolVenue host
1941Eleanor DudleyAlabamaOhio State
1946Phyllis OttoNorthwesternOhio State
1947Shirley SporkMichigan State Normal CollegeOhio State
1948Grace LenczykStetson Ohio State
1949Marilynn SmithKansasOhio State
1950Betty RowlandRollins College Ohio State
1951Barbara BruningWellesley College Ohio State
1952Mary Ann VillegaOhio StateOhio State
1953Patricia LesserSeattleNorth Carolina
1954Nancy ReedGeorge Peabody College North Carolina
1955Jackie YatesRedlands Lake Forest College
1956Marlene StewartRollins CollegePurdue
1957Mariam BaileyNorthwesternIllinois
1958Carole PushingCarleton College Iowa State
1959Judy EllerMiamiNorth Carolina
1960JoAnne GundersonArizona StateStanford
1961Judy HoetmerWashingtonMichigan
1962Carol SorensonArizona StateNew Mexico
1963Claudia LindorWestern WashingtonPenn State
1964Patti ShookValparaiso Michigan State
1965Roberta AlbersMiamiFlorida
1966Joyce KazmierskiMichigan StateOhio State
1967Martha WilkinsonCal State FullertonWashington
1968Gail SykesOdessa College Duke
1969Jane BastanchuryArizona StatePenn State
1970Cathy GaughanArizona StateSan Diego State
1971Shelley HamlinStanfordGeorgia
1972Ann LaughlinMiamiNew Mexico State
1973Bonnie LauerMichigan StateMt. Holyoke College
1974Mary BudkeOregon StateSan Diego State
1975Barbara BarrowSan Diego StateArizona
1976Nancy LopezTulsaMichigan State
1977Cathy MorseMiamiUniv. of Miami
1978Deborah PetrizziTexasFlorida
1979Kyle O'BrianSouthern MethodistOklahoma State
1980Patty SheehanSan Jose StateNew Mexico
1981Terri MoodyGeorgiaGeorgia
1982Amy BenzSouthern MethodistOhio State

Division II

Team

Team

Division I (no division 1968–1977, Large College 1977–1979)

Division I

AIAW championship 1981–82. Administered 1978–80 by the United States Women's Lacrosse Association.
Only AIAW championship was in 1982. The National Women's Rowing Association sponsored an annual open eights national championship from 1971 to 1979, among college and non-college teams. During this period, only in 1973 and 1975 did a college team win the national eights championship outright. According to USRowing, contemporary news reports in 1976 and 1977 do not mention a national collegiate title. Beginning in 1980, the NWRA sponsored the Women's Collegiate National Championship in varsity eights.
NWRA Open Eights top college finishers, 1971–1979 :
National Collegiate Varsity Eight Champions, 1980–1982:
1982 Rowing EventWinner
Varsity 8Washington
Varsity 4Pennsylvania
Lightweight 8Harvard
Lightweight 4Minnesota
Novice 8Boston University
Novice 4Minnesota
2nd Varsity 8Washington

Additional notes:
From 1983 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a combined men's and women's team championship.

Soccer">College soccer">Soccer

The 1980 tournament was not officially sanctioned by the AIAW. North Carolina, Harvard, Texas A&M, UCLA, Cortland State, Northern Colorado and Colorado State participated. One reason for the tournament was to earn an official sanction for the sport, by complying with and fulfilling guidelines set forth by the AIAW.
From Fall 1982 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a women's championship.

Fastpitch [Softball]

Division I (no division 1969–1979)

Women's College World Series
From 1969 to 1982, the women's collegiate softball championship was also known as the Women's College World Series and was promoted as such. The Women's College World Series was played in Omaha, Nebraska, through 1979 and in Norman, Oklahoma, during 1980–1982.
AIAW championship 1973–82. Previously administered by the Amateur Softball Association and sanctioned by DGWS from 1969 to 1972. Co-sponsored by the AIAW and ASA through 1979.
After the last AIAW competition, collegiate national championships in slow-pitch softball were conducted in 1983 and 1984 by the Amateur Softball Association. The University of South Florida won both. It appears that most of the college women's slow-pitch teams at that time were from Florida and North Carolina.

Swimming">Swimming (sport)">Swimming and Diving">Diving (sport)">Diving

Division I (no division 1968–1976, Large College 1977–1979)

United States Synchronized Swimming has continued to sponsor national collegiate championships from 1983 through the present. From 1983 through 2004, Ohio State won 19 of the 22 titles. Arizona won in 1984. Stanford won in 1998, 1999, 2005 through 2008, 2013 and 2016. Ohio State won in 2009 through 2012, and 2015. Lindenwood won in 2014.

[Tennis]

Division I (no division 1968–1976, Large College 1977–1979)

AIAW championship 1977–82. Team championships were also bestowed from 1968 to 1979 by the United States Lawn Tennis Association. From 1958 to 1979, the USLTA also crowned individual collegiate national champions in singles and doubles.
From 1983 through the present the NCAA has sponsored a women's team championship.

Outdoor [Track and Field]

Division I (no division 1969–1980)

AIAW championship 1972–82. The first National Intercollegiate Track and Field Championship was sponsored by DGWS in the spring of 1969.

Division I (no division 1969–1974, Large College 1975–1978)

AIAW championship 1973–82. Previously administered by the Division of Girls' and Women's Sports.
The USBC has conducted a women's intercollegiate bowling championship annually since 1975, although it was not an AIAW sport.